Another great event this month organised by Video Ad News, setting the scene for what we might expect to see in the video advertising industry during the next 12 months.
In one of my blog posts last year on video ads, I went through some stats confirming how the demand to watch video content outside traditional cable TV continued to increase among internet users. It’s clear that video advertising is the way to move forward for brands and advertisers.
The video industry is growing both strongly and steadily. Extensive research by Ampere Analysis on the new TV market shows that SVOD (subscription-based video on demand) has increased its share from 2% to 10% over the last 5 years. However, the completion of video content has reduced over the last two years. Richard Broughton from Ampere Analysis suggested that, despite the growth, winning audiences will be (and, indeed, already is) very competitive as there is a cap and finite amount of time available to households to watch the content. He goes on to say that players in this saturated market should be selective in terms of their strategy in order to win the audience battle e.g. through focusing on creation of a different type of content that doesn’t already exit in the market, focusing on certain niches in the market, i.e. via good sponsorship opportunities etc.
Since the stats make clear that winning the audience is a real issue, it makes sense that advertisers and broadcasters are searching for opportunities to find new audiences. Dave Morgan, The CEO of Simulmedia, thinks the future of video ads will be ads in digital gaming. He argues that the gamers form part of a largely untapped market segment who spend a significant amount of time fully engaged on their consoles. Data show that average gamers play between 3 and 4 sessions a week, and this provides an opportunity for brands to be in front of their audiences.
Two huge service providers in OTT (over the top) content, ITV (Lara Izlan) and Channel 4 (Sarah Rose), argued that we are in the era of increasing exclusivity for our audiences – we need to understand what our audiences want to watch and how they want to watch, and only then should customers be asked to pay for the service and content they receive.
Overall, the event was a great opportunity for advertisers and publishers to share their thoughts, views and latest trends in the industry. If you’re interested to receive the guide for this event produced by Video Ad News click here. For interviews with some of the speakers at the event click here.